Don’t Be a Bum, Check Out These 10 ‘Rocky’ Facts

Sylvester Stallone became a star playing Rocky Balboa, but did you know that United Artists wanted to buy Stallone’s script for Rocky and cast another actor in the title role? Before they finally agreed to let Stallone have the part, they tried to cast actors like Robert Redford, Burt Reynolds, and James Caan. That’s just one of the facts crammed into the latest episode of You Think You Know Movies, which goes the distance on the original 1976 classic, Rocky.

The budget for Rocky was tiny, and led to a few production errors, which Stallone and director John G. Avildsen cleverly incorporated into the finished film. The banner for the final fight with Apollo Creed was painted incorrectly, with Rocky in red shorts instead of white, inspiring the scene where Rocky complains about the image to the fight promoter. Later, Rocky also complains that his robe is too baggy; that’s because Stallone really wasn’t happy with the robe, which was way too big for him. The film’s a brilliant example of how a small production can turn its own weaknesses into strengths.

“You Think You Know Movies?” is a ScreenCrush original series that dives deep into the cinematic worlds of your favorite movies and freeze frames a few tidbits you might not have known. We’ve already tackled Star Wars, The Avengers, and Spider-Man, but now it’s time to head way out west for a look at Django Unchained.

Watch more installments of ‘You Think You Know Movies?’ below and let us know what movies we should cover next.